Well, now we know why Dewey Crowe had to die. He had to die so Choo-Choo, unofficially the Greatest Television Event of 2015, could live. The writers of Justified have excelled in creating characters that seem like Elmore Leonard could’ve created them, idiosyncratic criminals that are colorful and memorable without becoming ridiculous. Well, okay, Choo-Choo is pretty damn ridiculous, but he is so in a believable way that it doesn’t break the reality of the show’s universe. Other shows I watch, other shows I probably should stop watching, have strained credibility enough that antagonists have become synonymous with supervillains. Thankfully, Justified keeps in the Elmore Leonard tradition by making Raylan’s opponents flawed, human and above all interesting. “Cash Game” not only brings us the man who’s sure to win the Guest Actor Emmy next year (no, I’m kidding, Justified doesn’t win shit), it features more crackling Raylan/Tim interplay and a certain mustache aficionado sans mustache.
Garret Dillahunt tries to buy up other people’s property and, much like last week, doesn’t make any progress. Harlan residents won’t sell to him, even if it is economically advantageous, because the land means something to them. Dillahunt’s Walker either doesn’t or can’t understand it, but he does know that being called a “peacock” drives him up the wall. ‘Peacock’ refers to “a vain, self-conscious person”; it’s not a well-known insult in the North. Walker reminds me of Season 3’s Robert Quarles (Neal McDonough, 88 Minutes) in that both are superficially put together outsiders who unravel without much of a push. While Walker doesn’t ravage male prostitutes, his violent reaction to being called a “peacock” calls into question his stability. Usually it takes well into the season for a character to unravel, so it stands to reason that Ty Walker isn’t so much the loquacious businessman he portrays himself to be but the violent thug he shows himself to be. Him being a member of faux Blackwater is icing on the cake.
Probability Garret Dillahunt is a husk that the beard uses to appear human, a la Mimic: 40%
Raylan and Tim’s mission this week is investigating the bank robbery and that leads them to the banker Calhoun and the men with which he’s fraternizing, aka Walker and his fellow mercenaries. I recently read an interview with Jacob Pitts in which he said he acts scenes as though Raylan is a Tyler Durden figure and that added hilarious depth to their interactions. You know, that’s a valid interpretation and the two characters are both witty, violent men, only Raylan, for lack of a better term, is more of a cowboy about things. Their plan exemplifies both of their skillsets: Raylan confronts Choo-Choo, who’s tailing them, and takes his car, while Tim gives Choo-Choo a lift and finds out his ultimate destination. Tim letting Choo-Choo and his minder Seabass continue to talk and talk before slyly revealing the man who took Choo-Choo’s car is a co-worker was priceless. As was Choo-Choo’s explanation for why he didn’t retaliate against Raylan: “I shoulda choked his cowboy ass out and left him for dead on the side of the road. But then I figured, someone drives by and sees I’d have to kill them. You know, and then somebody else drives by and sees, then I’d have to kill them. Then, you know, another car drives by and sees and I’d have to kill them…you know.”
Big man + tiny car = comedy gold.
Justified is about Raylan Givens, but it’s also about Boyd Crowder, and in opposition to other shows they infrequently meet over the course of the season. Olyphant and Goggins acting off each other is a propulsive treat, but distancing them from each other makes the series more realistic. I approve of the decision, because it prevents cheap, fan baiting contrivances and raises the stakes of when they do interact. Their intersection in “Cash Game” is a good little scene, each character sizing up the other and trying to figure out what they know and what their agenda is. Boyd gets a great line with “I’ve learned to think without arguing with myself” while Raylan gets to threaten to shoot Boyd. That might have to go in the still to be perfected drinking game, take a shot every time Raylan threatens to shoot someone.
Meanwhile, the situation becomes more and more precarious for Ava, to the point that I feel like she had better days in prison. Rather than flirt with an ambiguous allegiance, “Cash Game” makes evident that the only loyalty Ava has is to herself, and she’ll do whatever it takes to survive. Justified does a deft job in creating tension between Ava and Boyd that feels insurmountable even though we know neither character’s gonna get dead with 11 more episodes to go. Ava’s a good enough liar to spin her taking those documents as a lovers quarrel, so it makes one wonder when she’s lying and when she’s being truthful. Although reductively she’s torn between two men, it’s clear that Ava is an active character and not an object. Joelle Carter does well in creating ambiguity as to Ava’s motives with her performance; she’s so desperate and terrified of potential consequences that who knows what she’ll do. Ava’s inscrutable agenda is a testament to both the creative team and the actress. But Jesus Christ, girl, you have to stop drinking in the morning. Nothing good has ever come of drinking in the morning. Except maybe Yalta; Churchill was perpetually shitfaced.
Goddamnit, being clean shaven robs him of his power!
I would be remiss if I did not address Sam Elliott. His character for the season makes his first appearance, and he does in fact lack a mustache. The introductory scene is nice – Mary Steenburgen (I Am Sam) smokes pot with him while delivering exposition in a manner that makes it feel like not exposition – but I couldn’t stop thinking about the missing ‘stache. After careful contemplation and half a bottle of Yellowtail Merlot (am angling for a sponsorship), I have a theory for why it’s not there. He played Thunderbolt Ross in Hulk, right? In comics now Thunderbolt Ross is the Red Hulk. (Imaginative name, I know.) One of the many, many criticisms about the revelation is that inexplicably Ross loses his mustache upon transformation and it grows back to its full glory upon return to human form. Graham Yost is a better writer than Jeph Loeb. Therefore, the reason he lacks his signature facial hair is he’s a Hulk. I think Justified could swing Raylan Givens going up against a Hulk. This would fall in line with my desire that Sliders be rebooted with Timothy Olyphant going to different worlds, shooting different versions of Boyd Crowder. (More than one of those Crowders would be a dinosaur.) Obviously Jerry O’Connell isn’t doing anything after the failure of his 16th TV show, but he doesn’t have to know about the revival.
Tim is relieved to know Raylan isn’t looking up some random Internet baby.
I’ve been considering this for a while, and I’m starting to think xXx‘s Xander Cage is not America’s James Bond and in fact it’s Raylan Givens. It makes sense, as broadly James Bond is a man who murders people and cracks jokes. So does Raylan! Justified would be best described as half a comedy, a stark contrast to other members of the “Golden Age of Television”. An episode of Justified that doesn’t make me laugh once is a bad episode of Justified. Thankfully, there’s been no bad episodes based on that metric. A hallmark of Elmore Leonard’s writing is that ridiculousness occurs and the characters are aware of it. He also made sympathetic criminals who nonetheless weren’t especially intelligent. “Cash Game” contains fantastic moments like Raylan throwing keys at Choo-Choo and Choo-Choo not reacting and Tim needling Raylan about his daughter’s lack of walking progress. Fuck, everything involving Choo-Choo is astonishingly funny. “I’m not following” indeed.
In the end, we see Boyd and Ava reunited as she lends some insight into the documents he stole. They’re not useless after all. I’m not sure what Ava’s plan is, but hitching her wagon to Boyd isn’t a particularly good idea. His hired help decided it was a good idea to keep Dewey Crowe’s alligator teeth necklace around, for example. It would be pretty hilarious if Crowder’s murder of Dewey was what finally brought him down, the RICO case becoming irrelevant. My preferred ending includes a lot of magical realism and a visit to Justified heaven, in which Johnny can walk right, MC Gainey can continue his rap career and Dewey gets all the $6 blowjobs from angels he can handle. The finale hasn’t been shot yet, so it could still happen, if you’re interested, Graham Yost.
I’m gonna close this shit off with the first, but certainly not the last, edition of “Olyphant or Elephant?”. In this new game that is sweeping the nation, I will list a series of facts and you will make the choice, that it’s true about Timothy Olyphant or an elephant, and next time I will give the answers. There is no prize except your own satisfaction in knowing the differences between a star of the screen and the guy who was in The Girl Next Door.
1. Killed for ivory.
2. Was one of the killers in Scream 2.
3. Has no natural predators.
4. Can swim – uses their trunk to breathe like a snorkel in deep water.
How many people did Raylan shoot/kill?: 0, 0 for the season How many people did Boyd shoot/kill?: 0, 1 for the season
Gardockustified 6×02, “Cash Game”
Well, now we know why Dewey Crowe had to die. He had to die so Choo-Choo, unofficially the Greatest Television Event of 2015, could live. The writers of Justified have excelled in creating characters that seem like Elmore Leonard could’ve created them, idiosyncratic criminals that are colorful and memorable without becoming ridiculous. Well, okay, Choo-Choo is pretty damn ridiculous, but he is so in a believable way that it doesn’t break the reality of the show’s universe. Other shows I watch, other shows I probably should stop watching, have strained credibility enough that antagonists have become synonymous with supervillains. Thankfully, Justified keeps in the Elmore Leonard tradition by making Raylan’s opponents flawed, human and above all interesting. “Cash Game” not only brings us the man who’s sure to win the Guest Actor Emmy next year (no, I’m kidding, Justified doesn’t win shit), it features more crackling Raylan/Tim interplay and a certain mustache aficionado sans mustache.
Garret Dillahunt tries to buy up other people’s property and, much like last week, doesn’t make any progress. Harlan residents won’t sell to him, even if it is economically advantageous, because the land means something to them. Dillahunt’s Walker either doesn’t or can’t understand it, but he does know that being called a “peacock” drives him up the wall. ‘Peacock’ refers to “a vain, self-conscious person”; it’s not a well-known insult in the North. Walker reminds me of Season 3’s Robert Quarles (Neal McDonough, 88 Minutes) in that both are superficially put together outsiders who unravel without much of a push. While Walker doesn’t ravage male prostitutes, his violent reaction to being called a “peacock” calls into question his stability. Usually it takes well into the season for a character to unravel, so it stands to reason that Ty Walker isn’t so much the loquacious businessman he portrays himself to be but the violent thug he shows himself to be. Him being a member of faux Blackwater is icing on the cake.
Probability Garret Dillahunt is a husk that the beard uses to appear human, a la Mimic: 40%
Raylan and Tim’s mission this week is investigating the bank robbery and that leads them to the banker Calhoun and the men with which he’s fraternizing, aka Walker and his fellow mercenaries. I recently read an interview with Jacob Pitts in which he said he acts scenes as though Raylan is a Tyler Durden figure and that added hilarious depth to their interactions. You know, that’s a valid interpretation and the two characters are both witty, violent men, only Raylan, for lack of a better term, is more of a cowboy about things. Their plan exemplifies both of their skillsets: Raylan confronts Choo-Choo, who’s tailing them, and takes his car, while Tim gives Choo-Choo a lift and finds out his ultimate destination. Tim letting Choo-Choo and his minder Seabass continue to talk and talk before slyly revealing the man who took Choo-Choo’s car is a co-worker was priceless. As was Choo-Choo’s explanation for why he didn’t retaliate against Raylan: “I shoulda choked his cowboy ass out and left him for dead on the side of the road. But then I figured, someone drives by and sees I’d have to kill them. You know, and then somebody else drives by and sees, then I’d have to kill them. Then, you know, another car drives by and sees and I’d have to kill them…you know.”
Big man + tiny car = comedy gold.
Justified is about Raylan Givens, but it’s also about Boyd Crowder, and in opposition to other shows they infrequently meet over the course of the season. Olyphant and Goggins acting off each other is a propulsive treat, but distancing them from each other makes the series more realistic. I approve of the decision, because it prevents cheap, fan baiting contrivances and raises the stakes of when they do interact. Their intersection in “Cash Game” is a good little scene, each character sizing up the other and trying to figure out what they know and what their agenda is. Boyd gets a great line with “I’ve learned to think without arguing with myself” while Raylan gets to threaten to shoot Boyd. That might have to go in the still to be perfected drinking game, take a shot every time Raylan threatens to shoot someone.
Meanwhile, the situation becomes more and more precarious for Ava, to the point that I feel like she had better days in prison. Rather than flirt with an ambiguous allegiance, “Cash Game” makes evident that the only loyalty Ava has is to herself, and she’ll do whatever it takes to survive. Justified does a deft job in creating tension between Ava and Boyd that feels insurmountable even though we know neither character’s gonna get dead with 11 more episodes to go. Ava’s a good enough liar to spin her taking those documents as a lovers quarrel, so it makes one wonder when she’s lying and when she’s being truthful. Although reductively she’s torn between two men, it’s clear that Ava is an active character and not an object. Joelle Carter does well in creating ambiguity as to Ava’s motives with her performance; she’s so desperate and terrified of potential consequences that who knows what she’ll do. Ava’s inscrutable agenda is a testament to both the creative team and the actress. But Jesus Christ, girl, you have to stop drinking in the morning. Nothing good has ever come of drinking in the morning. Except maybe Yalta; Churchill was perpetually shitfaced.
Goddamnit, being clean shaven robs him of his power!
I would be remiss if I did not address Sam Elliott. His character for the season makes his first appearance, and he does in fact lack a mustache. The introductory scene is nice – Mary Steenburgen (I Am Sam) smokes pot with him while delivering exposition in a manner that makes it feel like not exposition – but I couldn’t stop thinking about the missing ‘stache. After careful contemplation and half a bottle of Yellowtail Merlot (am angling for a sponsorship), I have a theory for why it’s not there. He played Thunderbolt Ross in Hulk, right? In comics now Thunderbolt Ross is the Red Hulk. (Imaginative name, I know.) One of the many, many criticisms about the revelation is that inexplicably Ross loses his mustache upon transformation and it grows back to its full glory upon return to human form. Graham Yost is a better writer than Jeph Loeb. Therefore, the reason he lacks his signature facial hair is he’s a Hulk. I think Justified could swing Raylan Givens going up against a Hulk. This would fall in line with my desire that Sliders be rebooted with Timothy Olyphant going to different worlds, shooting different versions of Boyd Crowder. (More than one of those Crowders would be a dinosaur.) Obviously Jerry O’Connell isn’t doing anything after the failure of his 16th TV show, but he doesn’t have to know about the revival.
Tim is relieved to know Raylan isn’t looking up some random Internet baby.
I’ve been considering this for a while, and I’m starting to think xXx‘s Xander Cage is not America’s James Bond and in fact it’s Raylan Givens. It makes sense, as broadly James Bond is a man who murders people and cracks jokes. So does Raylan! Justified would be best described as half a comedy, a stark contrast to other members of the “Golden Age of Television”. An episode of Justified that doesn’t make me laugh once is a bad episode of Justified. Thankfully, there’s been no bad episodes based on that metric. A hallmark of Elmore Leonard’s writing is that ridiculousness occurs and the characters are aware of it. He also made sympathetic criminals who nonetheless weren’t especially intelligent. “Cash Game” contains fantastic moments like Raylan throwing keys at Choo-Choo and Choo-Choo not reacting and Tim needling Raylan about his daughter’s lack of walking progress. Fuck, everything involving Choo-Choo is astonishingly funny. “I’m not following” indeed.
In the end, we see Boyd and Ava reunited as she lends some insight into the documents he stole. They’re not useless after all. I’m not sure what Ava’s plan is, but hitching her wagon to Boyd isn’t a particularly good idea. His hired help decided it was a good idea to keep Dewey Crowe’s alligator teeth necklace around, for example. It would be pretty hilarious if Crowder’s murder of Dewey was what finally brought him down, the RICO case becoming irrelevant. My preferred ending includes a lot of magical realism and a visit to Justified heaven, in which Johnny can walk right, MC Gainey can continue his rap career and Dewey gets all the $6 blowjobs from angels he can handle. The finale hasn’t been shot yet, so it could still happen, if you’re interested, Graham Yost.
I’m gonna close this shit off with the first, but certainly not the last, edition of “Olyphant or Elephant?”. In this new game that is sweeping the nation, I will list a series of facts and you will make the choice, that it’s true about Timothy Olyphant or an elephant, and next time I will give the answers. There is no prize except your own satisfaction in knowing the differences between a star of the screen and the guy who was in The Girl Next Door.
1. Killed for ivory.
2. Was one of the killers in Scream 2.
3. Has no natural predators.
4. Can swim – uses their trunk to breathe like a snorkel in deep water.
How many people did Raylan shoot/kill?: 0, 0 for the season
How many people did Boyd shoot/kill?: 0, 1 for the season
Ronnie Gardocki
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